THERMOPLASTIC STARCH-graft-POLY(CAPROLACTONE) BY REACTIVE MELT MIXING

MARIO D. NINAGO; OLIVIA V. LÓPEZ; MARÍA A. GARCÍA; SOLEDAD M. M. LENCINA; ANDRÉS E. CIOLINO; MARCELO A. VILLAR

Buenos Aires

Workshop; II Workshop on Bio-degradable Polymers and Biocomposites III Workshop BIOPURFIL, Bio-based Polyurethane Composites with Natural Fillers; 2015

Native starch is not a thermoplastic material but it can be converted into a thermoplastic starch (TPS) by processing at high temperature and shear stress in the presence of enough plasticizers such as water, glycerol, and sodium alginate, among others. Even though TPS can be extruded, injected and blown, the final material presents poor mechanical proper-ties, dimensional instability and high water vapor permeability due to the inherent starch hydrophilic character. One alternative to overcome these draw-backs is the blending with other polymers, but this solution is restricted to miscibility conditions. Poly(-caprolactone), (PCL), is a biocompatible, degradable polyester which is a good candidate to obtain TPS with enhanced applications [1]. In this work, the grafting of PCL onto two thermoplastics matrices SG and SGA was tested by employing reactive melt mixing. The chemical characterization and miscibility of the final material were studied by complementary techniques.